The Swiss-based SPF - Institute of Solar Technology has recently published a report on behalf of EnergieSchweiz, a programme by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, about the market situation of PV-thermal technologies (PVT) in Switzerland and across all of Europe (see attached document in German). The researchers from SPF have found that there are various market-ready and proven products available. They counted around 300 PVT installations in Switzerland alone. A particularly good example is shown on the photo: a PVT installation integrated into the facade of an office building.

Scientists from Germany and Switzerland have recently analysed the cost structures of systems producing solar process heat. They presented their findings in mid-May at the Solar Thermal Energy Symposium, where they said they had identified great potential for cost-cutting and discovered a large spread of installation prices. Planning SHIP systems involved more work than doing the same for domestic applications, but it was the collectors that made up the lion’s share of the investment. The three-day symposium attracted around 230 experts from research and industry. As Germany’s major annual conference on solar heating and cooling, it focused this year on turnkey heating solutions, including solar ones for the housing market and industrial processes. It was the 27th symposium and, at the same time, the last one organised by the East-Bavarian Institute for Technology Transfer, OTTI, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2017. The symposium’s board of advisers has taken over sponsorship until a new conference organiser is found for 2018 (see attached flyer in German).

Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) is taking its first steps on the Brazilian market. Considering the mere handful of SHIP plants in operation in a country as huge as this one, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is contemplating SHIP support measures as part of its long-term project Concentrating Solar Power in Brazil (2013 – 2017). There have been feasibility studies on SHIP plants in the north-eastern states of Pernambuco and Ceara and the first online training course on solar process heat in March 2017 attracted 80 participants from across the country.

On 17 November 2016, Panama’s secretary of energy approved Resolution No. 3142 to create a new Sustainable Construction Standard Guide with the aim of reducing energy consumption in newbuilds. The new building regulations target a 15 % reduction in energy use in newbuilds within one year and a 20 % one in two years compared to the baseline values on pages 28 and 29 of the attached document. The authors of the guide consider solar thermal to be one of the most preferable solutions to achieve these efficiency targets (see page 53). However, there has not been an effective mechanism in place to implement the suggested changes and ensure compliance. Additionally, the Panamanian government is coordinating with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to establish a new support scheme for solar thermal.

Poland´s market collapsed in 2016. A decline had been expected, but that it would be so severe surprised even insiders from the industry. Only 115,400 m² (81 MWth) were added in 2016, a whopping 58 % less than the 277,000 m² (194 MWth) installed the year prior. Consequently, Poland dropped from rank 3 to 6 on the list of the largest European markets. Between 2012 and 2014, only Germany and Italy had sold more collector area. Since 2015, annual figures have come from SPIUG, the Association of Manufacturers and Importers of Heating Appliances, and these numbers correspond fairly well to the 2016 ones by British consultancy BSRIA. Before 2015, annual market statistics had been published by the Polish Institute for Renewable Energy.

The one presenting Dutch-based BDR Thermea’s solar heating solutions at the Solar Show Africa 2017 in late March in South Africa was Fabrisolia, the new solar thermal centre of excellence created by the company group. It consists of a factory for collector panel assembly and a solar thermal R&D centre and is located in Castellbisbal near Barcelona. BDR Thermea employs around 6,500 people and operates on more than 70 national markets around the globe. The group pursues a multi-brand approach, with several brands for solar thermal systems: Baxi, Baymak, Brötje, De Dietrich, Oertli and Remeha.

Two larger solar thermal cooling installations were put into operation in China in 2016. One of them was a 23-kW Yazaki absorption system (left photo) and one a new developed 50-kW variable-effect absorption chiller driven by a Fresnel collector (right). Solarthermalworld.org spoke with Professor Yanjun Dai of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) about the market and technological advances of solar cooling in China.

Solar district heating is attractive business. Not only does this become obvious when looking at the 347 MWth of newly installed SDH capacity in Denmark in 2016, but also when one hears about Big Solar, a 250 MWth collector field – with 1.8 million m² of seasonal storage – planned to cover 20 % of the energy demand in the Austrian city of Graz by 2020. It certainly explains the high interest in international research platform Towards the Integration of Large SHC Systems into DHC Networks, or Task 55 of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. “We welcomed 33 participants from eight countries during our second project meeting in Aalborg in mid-March, and even had to limit the number of participants per company because of the huge demand,” explained Sabine Putz, Operating Agent of Task 55 and COO and Head of R&D at S.O.L.I.D.

Researchers have worked intensively for one-and-a-half years across national borders to find ways of reducing the costs of solar thermal systems and making them more attractive to end users. The members of Task 54 of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, Price Reduction of Solar Thermal Systems, have discussed the effects of standardised product designs or changes in product offerings on cost structures. They have also analysed the entire value chain from component manufacture to system assembly and installation to help identify cost-cutting potential. This is the first time that methods of Process Cost Analysis are being adapted for the solar thermal business. “The share of overhead (e.g. marketing, sales, logistics, quality management and maintenance) has increased significantly, from 30 to 60 % of total product expenses over the last 50 years. This means we will have to investigate the relationship between technology, product portfolio and overhead,” explained Wolfgang Kramer, Head of the Solar Thermal Heating Systems Department at German-based Fraunhofer ISE. “To this end, the process cost analysis provides important quantitative information.” For example, the chart illustrates the issue of having a wider product portfolio and its impact on competitiveness and profitability. The model is currently being adapted for the solar industry in Task 54 as part of German research programme TEWIsol.

Turkey’s solar thermal market remained strong in 2016. However, sales figures are hardly easy to come by, as there is a formal market, on which businesses offer well-known brands, and an informal one, on which systems are supplied by unregistered small producers. Solar Thermals: Turkey, the latest report on the Turkish market by British consultancy BSRIA has shown that the formal market remained fairly stable last year, with an estimated 1.53 million m² (1.1 GWth) compared to 1.5 million m² in 2015. Owners of residential one- and two-family buildings again accounted for the lion’s share of purchases, as 51 % of all new systems for hot water preparation and a small but growing number of space heating systems were sold to them last year (see the chart above).